#come on low brass we’re getting overpriced characters

[caterpillarinacave]

going to build a bear. wish me luck.

[mattsammonsez]

Brass Tacts: It’s Not Getting Knocked Down, It’s How You Get Back Up That Matters

Oh man...

A few weeks ago I wrote in Brass Tacts on how we’re witnessing a live lesson in marketing with the Popeyes vs. Chick-fil-a (and other restaurants) battle with the southern-style chicken sandwich. Popeyes won’t sell as many chicken sandwiches as Chick-fil-a, but now they control the conversation through smart social media usage and limited advertising. Now we’re witnessing another live marketing lesson at the other end of the spectrum: how NOT to do an ad campaign, and most importantly how NOT to respond to the fallout from a faulty ad campaign. Of course, I’m talking about the now-infamous Peloton commercial than has been skewered and lampooned since being released in late November.

Like a gift-wrapped Peloton, there is sooooo much to unwrap here. And ironically, the one person who will come out of this better is “Peloton woman”, and it’s not because she pedaled her way to happiness on an overpriced exercise bike. And as always, content creators and broadcasters have something to learn from all of this.

Where to begin? Well let’s start with my general thought of Peloton and similar “personal trainer” systems-- it’s a bunch of hooey. At more than $2,200 for the bike and a $39 monthly membership, if you want a Peloton it will cost you about $2,700 for a year’s usage. Depending on the state you live in and how much you pay in taxes, that amounts to about one full paycheck of net income if you make $100,000 annually. Suffice to say, roughly 80% of the population in the United States can’t afford one of these things, so in my opinion any commercial for this belongs in the “Lexus December to Remember” fantasy department. Yes, you too can have a pricey exercise bike featuring someone in a studio yelling at you to pedal harder if you haven’t emptied your bank account on the Lexus with leather seats (or the two GMC trucks you and your spouse gifted to yourselves, or the Buick SUV you treated yourself to). Most people in their right mind aren’t putting a big bow on a $60,000 vehicle in front of their fortress-size home for Christmas like they do on the TV.

I am also a big believer that if you do want to lose weight, or stay fit and trim, or enjoy the energy and confidence boost that exercising can provide you, I suggest from my own experience that you eat less crap and get up and move around more. I lost 40 pounds over the last 10 or 12 years by not eating fast food and limiting fried foods, virtually eliminating my soda intake as well as drastically cutting back on how much beer I drank, and by pushing myself to exercise for 60 minutes 3 times a week. Want a bike? They sell them at Goodwill for $40. There, I just got you a bike for the cost of one month of a Peloton membership, and you don’t have your “personal trainer” Vinny screaming from a sound stage to sweat a little more for him.

Ok, so personal thoughts on Peloton and exercise aside, let’s move on to what’s happening at Peloton right about now. The company is having trouble (surprise!) convincing people not in a six-figure household to buy one of these things, and a weaker-than-expected IPO on NASDAQ in September isn’t helping issues. So the holiday sales time, a key time for anyone in the physical fitness/personal wellness industries, was a must-hit for Peloton. As you know, they released the infamous ad on November 21st, right before you feel guilty about the 8 or 9 pounds of food you’re going to eat at Thanksgiving. At first the ad seems like the usual sappy/fantasy commercial-- much like the husband surprising his wife with a luxury car, here’s the husband surprising his wife with this expensive exercise bike. And like every other Peloton (or similar item) commercial, she pedals away in the spare room of her really large house and ends up in a good mood at the end of the commercial.

But over time came the now well-known backlash. Why is this already attractive and thin woman forcing herself on to the exercise bike? Why is her husband buying this for her, she clearly doesn’t need this? And the cringe-worthy finish: after a year of documenting her Peloton use, she shows off the compilation to her husband who grins and projects this aura of “well I kept her thin and hot for another year!” While the supposed message was empowering women to do great achievements (albeit on an expensive exercise bike), the various messages received by viewers was “fat is bad”, “exercise ‘til you drop”, and “stay sexy ladies or he’ll kick you and that royal lifestyle to the curb”. The reaction to the whole fiasco BY ALL parties is more fascinating to me.

“Now YOU get on that bike you smug little...”

Peloton got clobbered on Wall Street, losing upwards of $1.6 billion of its valuation after the ad became viral (although shares have recovered somewhat). Rather than admit that they were off the mark with the ad, Peloton is shifting the blame to the viewers, shocked that so many people “misinterpreted” what they were trying to sell (Hot tip: NEVER blame the audience for not getting your message. More on that later). Peloton’s CEO, John Foley, is suggesting this is old news (Hot tip: It’s not). And Peloton’s marketing partner, Mekanism, is very quiet on the whole thing, which is normally not a good sign. But these are all people behind the scenes. What about the people playing the roles of the misguided husband and wife?

This is the Brass Tacts lesson-- how you respond to being pulled into something you didn’t plan on being the center of attention on. And I’ll pull my own experience to the middle, as I was featured in a national ad campaign for H&R Block in the winter of 2013. Thankfully there was no controversy with that campaign, but even though I was used to broadcasting to thousands of people during my “day job” as the game day host of the Tampa Bay Lightning radio broadcasts, having my face pop up on TV screens and web ads across the nation for a solid two months was odd. And while the feedback from friends and strangers who saw the ad was all positive, it was still an adjustment for me to deal with the sudden notoriety I had. But after a few days I took it all in stride, and I still think back to that time 9 years ago when I was selected, filmed, and had a spot starring me delivered to the masses. It was a fun experience, but admittedly a little overwhelming. So if someone who is a professional broadcaster can be shaken a bit by a positive commercial experience, let’s see how our Peloton actors are doing.

Sean Hunter, a.k.a. “Peloton Husband”, was the first to speak out. Naturally, the guy who appeared in about 5 seconds of the ad, is playing the role of the victim. In TV and print interviews shortly after the public backlash, Hunter was stunned by the negative feedback that implemented him as a demanding and care-less husband. He was worried that this ad would stunt his day job as an elementary school teacher as well as his burgeoning acting career. But apparently he was so worried about this turn of events, he continued to give interviews and even changed his Instagram account name to “pelotonhusband”. I sure hope he survives to see his imminent stint on Dancing With the Stars.

But what about “Peloton Woman”? Her name is Monica Ruiz, and after laying low she released a statement through her agency on Saturday, also noting she was surprised by the backlash from the ad. But rather than play the victim, which in many ways she is if you see her character as an attractive young mother who has to pedal to nowhere and fast to keep her hot looks to keep her jackass husband happy, Ruiz ends up being the victor in this whole mess. As described in this New York Times article, actor Ryan Reynolds came to Ruiz’s rescue with one of the best response ads I have ever seen in my life. With Ruiz playing the role of a woman who has clearly been through A LOT lately, we find her at a local bar with her girl friends staring into space before chugging down a martini glass filled with Aviation Gin, Reynolds’ own gin product. As any good friends would do in a time of crisis, the friends reassure Ruiz that everything will be great and go ahead and throw back another. And by the way, one of the friends says to Ruiz, “you look great!”

Our hero Monica (center) in the ultimate clap back ad. I’ll drink to that.

As detailed in the Times article, Reynolds’ had to act fast to make the spot happen, and his timing couldn’t have been better with the public outcry at full pitch. Since the spot was filmed and produced by his own production company, the turnaround was quick and the spot debuted this past Saturday. In the end Ruiz’s character, who was supposed to be the damsel in distress who needed to ride this damn bike in her living room at all hours of the day to make her doofus husband happy in a bizarre way considering she was already an attractive young mother living a heavenly life in this beautiful home with a beautiful daughter, turns out to be the heroine. She didn’t need an expensive exercise bike to feel good about herself (and thus her husband somehow feels satisfied), she just needed a stiff drink with good friends away from home.

And in real life, Ruiz is the undisputed champion here, with a primary assist to Reynolds for getting her into the response ad so quickly. Ruiz comes out on top, shows the world that she cannot only take the heat, but she’ll spin it around and make a nice cool drink out of it. The sympathy for the awful Peloton ad, followed by the smart comeback in the Aviation Gin ad, likely means she’ll have more companies knocking on her door as a spokesperson. Meanwhile Sean Hunter looks like a sniveling idiot, CEO John Foley is likely throwing things in his office and blaming someone else, and Mekanism is probably wondering if they’ve lost the Peloton account for good.

I’m not much of a gin drinker, but I’ll be honest in saying while buying whiskey for my wife’s world-famous Irish Cream this past weekend, I glanced over at the Aviation Gin display. Mission accomplished, and I hope Monica Ruiz makes a mint off of every acting gig she gets.

So what do broadcasters and content creators learn from this mess?

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE: You need to know who you’re talking to, and how you’re conveying that message. While Foley is trying to pretend like this fiasco is old news, even he acknowledges that the Peloton message needs to be clarified. If you think a certain segment of the population needs to be convinced that buying your product empowers them to do great things, then you need to find a smart and delicate way of conveying that message. Having an already attractive young woman playing the role of a married mother living in a gorgeous house needing to ride an exercise bike her husband mysteriously gifts her to apparently stay young and fit and attractive and snuggled nicely into this rich guy’s house in so many ways looks down at that woman-- and any woman watching the ad. How Peloton, or the ad agency Mekanism, thought this was a good idea or continued to green light it to completion is mind-boggling.

Don’t just “know” through demographic stats and information who your target audience is. KNOW your audience by putting their thoughts and feelings in to the equation. I’m willing to bet my weight in Aviation Gin that during the entire concept and execution of this campaign, there weren’t a lot of (or any) married upper middle-class women with children in on the process. That includes at Peloton, Mekanism, or any test audience for the ad. This wasn’t someone knowing the intended audience, it was someone thinking they knew who needed to see this.

Don’t blame the audience: Maybe the audience did misunderstand the intended message, but don’t EVER publicly suggest that they did. By doing so, you’re implying the audience (including your target audience) is too stupid to understand your high-brow style of communication. The fact is, if a large segment of the population throws back your content, then maybe (no definitely) you’re way off with your target. 

I recall back in 2011 when the Tampa Bay Lightning unveiled a brand new logo and color scheme, the one thing that fans were very vocal about was the lack of black in the new uniform design. Black had been part of the team’s identity since its inception in 1992, why did it totally have to go away? Likewise fans demanded that the Lightning’s unique lightning bolt pants, also a staple of the uniform since 1992, be part of the new concept. Rather than try to explain to the fans that they misunderstood what the team was trying to do, then-CEO Tod Leiweke said the team was going back to the drawing board. Not only was black reintroduced to accent the predominantly blue and white uniform, the pants had the lightning bolt down the side. In this situation, the customer is always right, even if they’re wrong for not seeing what you were trying to do.

Don’t get caught up, when you get caught up: Sometimes you get stuck in the middle when something goes awry, even if it isn’t your fault. Sean Hunter didn’t go into the audition process for the ad desiring to be seen as this idiot husband demeaning his wife by suggesting the already rail-thin woman needed to exercise more. And while most reasonable people don’t see Sean Hunter the actor as a real-life embodiment of the husband, understandably some people just connected dots and thought Hunter and the husband were one in the same. But Hunter should have laid low, let the controversy pass (because it eventually will), and let Peloton or the agency take the heat. Instead he was one of the first to speak out, coming off like a whiny victim, and despite this “career-threatening” moment he is still getting paid. And if it’s an ASCAP deal for him, when the ad stops running he’ll still have $10,000-$15,000 in his pocket for being in the ad. That’s hardly a negative game-changer.

Compare that to Ruiz who stayed out of the fire, and was treated to a sympathetic audience not only because of the unfortunate thrust in to being a face of gender inequality but also for being put in a similar position as Hunter. Rather than book every interview and complain about how her life was ruined, Reynolds came along and was able to recast her in a much lighter role that gave he personality the redeeming qualities of humility (”I can’t believe I was in that ad?”) and humor (”I think I’ll suck down another glass of gin with my friends.”). Eventually this will all blow over, but Ruiz will be remembered for looking calmer and wiser than Hunter, and her acting career may last longer than Peloton.

When the waters get choppy around you from a storm that is out of your control, often the best thing to do is put your head down and keep rowing for land.

Matt Sammon has been in broadcasting and content creation for 24 years, and was most recently the Director of Broadcasting & Programming for the Tampa Bay Lightning. Learn more about him and what he can do for you at SammonSez.com.